I think the only mistakes I had noticed before are the one about the face of the statue of Eric and the one about Ariel's shoes. Which are probably the bigger ones, the rest of them are not very important.

I was asked recently if I had anything to do with the character of Vanessa (Ursula in human form) for The Little Mermaid. The answer is yes. I think at the time I was done with King Triton's animation and was asked to help out with this character who had limited footage in the film. I came up with these two model sheets, and animated a few scenes when we see her first. The wedding scenes were animated by someone else, I believe Kathy Zielinski did some of that footage. What I recall from this assignment is that I had fun with the overlapping action in Vanessa's hair and dress.

Got the Target exclusive today. The cover’s a bit different than it was before. Honestly, I wish they hadn’t changed it (Flounder / Ursula / Triton’s palace all looked better before and they added those little scale effects from the Diamond cover to Ariel’s tail which I always hated), but it’s still the best of the three. Some might think Ariel’s face was improved; I think they’re even with one another. I liked the earnestness of the first drawing, although something about the color of the eyes / lips was weird… Her lipstick was never pink for one thing and her eyes are the same shade of blue as absolutely everything else on the cover. *shrug* So I’m bothered, but I’m not bothered. I love that the front of the slipcover is under the sea and the back of the box is Eric’s palace, the world above (and it’s a clean picture without any text over top of it). And I love how there are close-up pictures of Ariel, Sebastian, Flounder, and Ursula, too. The little book’s cover is pretty, too. Either way, Disney’s pricing is out of control. I paid $35 for this, Lord have mercy.

I’ll pick up the standard cover at a later time. Paige O’Hara seems like a lovely woman, but I’m skipping the BestBuy steelbook sadly. (Maybe that’s the aforementioned mercy I was looking for, because it’s priced at $36.99 on the BestBuy website ***dead***). If anyone buys that one, I’d be curious if there’s an inside cover or anything else special (or not).

The Leading Ladies bonus feature seems like it was sliced and diced, and they were forced to recount lyrics / film stories for some reason. I wish they’d left in whatever was cut; I wouldn’t have minded it going 30 minutes or more. Only a shame Pat Carroll, Angela Lansbury, and Susan Egan weren’t there as well (especially since the latter played Belle, too). I’ll never be able to forgive Lasseter for removing Menken from TP&TF. Anika Noni Rose (and Keith David) deserved a Menken soundtrack—what a travesty. You could really sense O'Hara's, Benson's, and Menken's shared sadness over the death of hand-drawn films.

The video of the various voice actors behind the microphone was nice. Buddy Hackett seemed a little crazy (especially with M&C talking about how he made his own song for Scuttle, lol). I was sad they didn’t show anything of Kenneth Mars. Triton in general seems to be forgotten and overlooked all the time. It’s one thing for Eric to be (since the princes prior to Beast are all seen as bland, even if Eric is an improvement), but Triton is as critical to the movie as Ariel, Sebastian, and Ursula, imo. Mars did such a great job and I wish he/the character would be remembered more.

I listened to the commentary (again, since I believe this was just a carryover feature?). They could make a new commentary for every edition and I’m sure they’d find new things to say. M&C noted the resemblance between the opening of Ursula’s lair and the shell she lies in with Georgia O’Keefe’s work, and I definitely see it (and both make me think of…ahem, lady parts, lmao).

They point out the lack of color in the beginning with Eric on the ship in the mist, and how they wanted the underwater world to be Oz-esque in how colorful it was compared to the boring, mundane world. I love it, but that’s part of the reason the land scenes in the 2nd half could never have lived up to all the wonder and amazement Ariel has for it.

I remember being so unexpectedly, entirely satisfied with the restoration for the Diamond that I wasn’t sure what to expect with this. I almost didn’t want anything to be changed, but somehow it turned out even more striking to me? There seems to be a lot more blue everywhere--less green--and the reds pop more because of it. Right or wrong, that is much closer to my memory of the film as a child (with Ursula appearing almost blue-ish at times). The animation of the film—the key scenes especially—is still so gorgeous and amazing to me. Every time I see the animation of Ursula folding her hands with her tentacles coiling, I'm taken back to being a child pausing frame by frame trying to re-create the images on paper for myself.

I wanted to say, if you even care, that I read all you said, I am glad you still love and enjoy The Little Mermaid, your favorite movie ever, just as much as you did when you were a child. Interesting that Ursula's home is like those feminine-parts-O'Keefe flowers, and that they wanted the scenes under the sea to be like The Wizard of Oz in effect. That was probably the best way to go since most of the story takes place in the sea and it's part of why so many people love the film so much. But yes, it does kind of make the human world seem less great when Ariel's goal is supposed to be the great stuff on land! I'm glad you like the restoration it got, because it sounded like the Diamond's was closer to how it should be, but according to you, maybe this is closer to how it should be? I always thought Ursula looked blue and not purple when I was younger, so maybe it's right. I have always thought The Little Mermaid had really fantastic animation. Sure, sometimes Ariel is off-model but that's it. And I just love hearing how you are still taken back to your initial feelings on the film when you were a kid when you drew images from this favorite classic of yours.

And in this one—and hopefully final—time I’ll be talking directly to you, I’ll be frank that the only regret I have where it concerns you is that I ever defended you on this site in the past. Maybe if I hadn’t, you would’ve been banned years ago the way you deserve, during the Goliath / Frankenollie years and I would never have had to deal with you or your repetitive, inane, passive-aggressive BS again. What I’ve expressed here and elsewhere only scrapes the surface of my disdain and disgust for you. I’m sure you’ll still quote me, respond to me, namedrop me—whatever. The desire to converse is not and will never be mutual. So—I guess?—enjoy getting your kicks if that’s what you need to fill your life.

And if you or your forum buddies are going to be off-topic and troll every thread, then I'm not going to apologize for reacting to it the way it deserves if the moderators refuse to intervene and reprimand you. Numbers don't give you the right to antagonize any more than any one else here. You aren't a moderator here and I do not answer to you.

I really wanted to be your friend. First time I met you, I thought we had a lot in common. Mainly being gay and liking the same Disney movies, as well as being Christian. But you didn't like me from the beginning. I have been bitchy and I'll even say mean to you, but in response to you doing it to me first, I recall. I don't know why you hated me so bad when I still wanted to be your friend or at least talk despite our bitchery. I just don't get the extreme hatred. I will admit I feel hatred now, because of how you have been to me these last few times, but I still always wish for love to happen between us instead. And you may be percieving malice in places it isn't, namely every time I mention your name, when I say your posts are good (they are!), or me or others simply talking about Cinderella live-action. I was the only one who tried to talk to you about your heartfelt post about The Little Mermaid: Signature Edition. I just don't get it.

Omg Sotiris, that was so soulful and beautiful! No other film has gotten something like that! My favorite parts were the wedding and what they did for the little red-headed girl in pink. She was so amazed when she saw her room!

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